Conservation Camp helps Lake County region in fighting fires

LAKE COUNTY - As the county braces for the remainder of a summer that spells a recipe for fire disaster - hot weather, drought, tinder-dry grass and chaparral that makes for perfect kindling - Cal Fire will call on what some might consider an unusual source for firefighters: California's state prison inmates.

Home to a firefighting program with 110 inmates, the orange-clad minimum-offense prisoners at Konocti Conservation Camp earn one day off their sentence for each day of work. They receive $1 per hour for their work as fire mechanics and firefighters, toting hoses up hillsides, digging fire breaks that can span miles, chopping down burned snags and brush, and earning extra points that can help them become more marketable in a firefighting career once their sentence is served.

With state and county resources stretched thin, each of the firefighting inmates in Lake County saves the state of California approximately $18,000 in fighting fires each year. The statewide program, with 4,400 inmate firefighters, saves the state more than $80 million every year.

"The Conservation Camp Program provides an enormous benefit to prisoners, as well as the state of California. They learn skills, teamwork and discipline as well as a solid work ethic that really helps them down the road when they are released from prison," said Leuitenant Mike Pingree of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in Susanville, which oversees the Konocti camp.

Pingree said that in his three years working in the camps, he has seen about 20 inmate firefighters go on to be hired by fire departments after they have served their sentence. "There are numerous skills they can learn. At Konocti, there are two water treatment programs they can get a certificate in, as well as a mechanics certificate. So they can apply that in the street," said Pingree.

While the inmates are in the camp, according to Pingree, there is little incentive for them to flee on the job because penalties include significant time added to their sentences, and inmates who qualify for the program are in the final phase of their sentence, which must be less than two years. They spend an average of eight months in the camp program. After they are screened, inmates go through two weeks of physical fitness training, and an additional two weeks learning fire suppression and safety techniques. "If they don't qualify, they are sent back to sit in prison," said Pingree.

The incentive to get out of their jail cells is bolstered not only by the ability to earn a little money for extras along with training for a variety of marketable skills, but it also is encouraged by the Governor, who issued an order earlier this year to allow a higher number of firefighter crew to be inmates, which means the program, steadily increasing since its inception in 1946, will expand so that camps can accommodate more offenders, according to Pingree.

According to Pingree and Cal fire administrator Richard Malm, who oversees the inmates at Konocti camp, the all-male camp (there is one female conservation camp in Southern California) perform additional tax-based community services around the lake. "For those projects they are paid $1.45 per day, whereas for a fire they earn $1 per hour. They do things like trail reconstruction, vegetation eradication for certain plants that aren't indigenous to California, and they also do vegetation control to prevent fires, so if someone throws a cigarette out the widow it's less likely to cause a fire," said Pingree. During the firefighting season inmates log an average of three million person hours of fighting wildfires, with an additional 7 million hours of public service.

Malm, who has been an administrator with Cal fire for 25 years, says the five inmate crews at Konocti camp participate in projects for the state parks, school district, Bureau of Land Management, the County of Lake, county roads, and non-profits. "They go to the schools and paint buildings or pick up trash, if you see them out on the side of the road picking up trash, that's who it is. It's an opportunity for them to make reparations for breaking the law. While they serve their sentences they are contributing to society in a positive way. It's a great work program. I think it's important for people to know that these are level one, low custody offenders. They're the most well behaved, and have a better success rate," said Malm, who added that the recidivism rate is lower for inmates who participate in conservation camps. "A lot of them become firefighters, some become mechanics or get state jobs," said Malm.